The classic self-doubting New Zealand personality comes to the fore during any major international competition.

Some Australian friends visited us this morning and commented on how NZ media coverage of the Commonwealth Games is only about how well or poorly Kiwis are doing. They tuned into a televised event and weren't even told who won - just that the Kiwis didn't.

This morning's stuff.co.nz ran the headline "Never mind the dream - where are the medals?". The story agonized over our slow start to the games and there was much hand-wringing about whether our medal target could be met, and how embarrassing it would be if we failed.

And that's why I don't watch the games. Come on New Zealand, start worrying about things that matter

Tim Gudsell is from my home town and was one of the cyclists involved in the alleged drunken incident at the games. Depending on who you listen to, he apparently pushed another competitor into a pool and generally made a drunken nuisance of himself.

None of us are qualified to judge what did or didn't happen, but the people involved have admitted that they had been drinking, were making a lot of noise in the village at 5am, and at the very least they wrecked a pair of nice new shoes.

In my local paper this morning Tim Gudsell said he was "stunned" that this incident was dragged through the media trial process.

HUH?

With all the physical and mental training these guys go through to get to the games, maybe a five-minute media training session might have been a good idea.

Just in case it's not obvious.... When you represent New Zealand at a significant international sporting event, you are under intense media scrutiny. There is where you don't put a foot wrong.

If Tim was genuinely surprised then his coaching and management team need to ask themselves some hard questions. It's pretty poor for anyone to see this outcome as a surprise.